ABSTRACT
Equalizing income and wealth to raise the social status and self-respect of society's worst off could be self-defeating. On the assumption of behavioral symmetry, economic equalization will merely re-route status-seeking behavior away from market activity toward something else. Rawls writes, Status is a positional good, as is sometimes said. High status assumes other positions beneath it; so if we seek a higher status for ourselves, we in effect support a scheme that entails others' having a lower status. Status matters because, as Harry Brighouse and Adam Swift write, people's self-respect suffers when they judge their own worth by comparing themselves with others who are better off than themselves. As Rawls suggests, status pluralism seems to be an implication of the flourishing of value pluralism under liberal institutions. Status itself can be a powerful incentive to put your talents to work for the benefit of others. Conspicuous compassion is highly visible forms of charitable giving to signal your wealth.
